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Biomedical subjects

Z Balikó

Publications and source records attributed to Z Balikó.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Different manifestations of langerhans cell histiocytosis affecting two members of a family.

Two different manifestations of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (histiocytosis X) are presented, the first occurring as a solitary rib eosinophil granuloma in an 11-year-old girl, and the second as an eosinophil granuloma of the lung of her mother, a 41-year-old heavy smoker, appearing 8 years after the onset of her daughter's disease. Familial clustering of two different manifestations of histiocytosis X disease is very rare and raises the possibility of inherited mutations that promote emergence of clonal Langerhans cells.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Chronic obstructive respiratory diseases: diagnosis and therapy].

It is estimated there are about one half million people suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) today in Hungary. Description of the disease and aspects of the differential procedure used in its diagnosis are here presented. It is crucial to provide individualized treatment for patients with COPD, but smoking is the most important cause of the disease; thus, quitting is the single intervention which can slow the progressive course of the disease. The author presents therapies appropriate for both the stable phase of the disease and its acute exacerbations. Using inhalative anticholinergs is the first step in the treatment schedule, with beta(2)-sympaticomimetics recommended if these are insufficient. The next step up the therapy ladder are the retard theophyllins; long-term glucocorticoids, preferentially by inhalation, may also be needed. Depending on the severity of an acute exacerbation of the disease, various antibiotics are indicated. Rehabilitation programs are detailed, with mention also of patient education; hopefully, such a focus will be of increasing importance to both physicians and patients in the near future.

Asthma↗
PubMed1998

Th2 biased immune response in cases with active Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and tuberculin anergy.

This study was aimed at investigating the immunologic relationship between cytokine production pattern and tuberculin negativity in patients with active Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. After classifying patients by the extent of pulmonary involvement and the size of the tuberculin reaction, we evaluated the rate of cytokine positivity in peripheral blood to determine whether there is a characteristic cellular immune reaction pattern which could partly explain the tuberculin negativity in some of these cases. The significance of tuberculin anergy occurring in some cases with M. tuberculosis infection is still not clear. We investigated the ratio of IL- 4, IL-10, IL-12, CD-4, CD-8 expressing lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of patients with active M. tuberculosis infection and correlated the percentage of the reactive cells with the positivity or negativity of tuberculin skin reactions. Twenty-eight patients were included in the study, with 11 healthy volunteers serving as controls. 10 ml of venous blood was drawn before starting anti-mycobacterial treatment. A tuberculin skin test was performed, introducing intracutaneously 5 TU PPD on the forearm with results evaluated after 72 h. Consistent with the reactivity or non-reactivity of the tuberculin skin test, we found a significantly higher ratio of IL-4 and IL-10 positive lymphocytes and a significantly lower ratio of IL-12 in the peripheral blood of patients with tuberculin anergy than in that of tuberculin positive patients or healthy donors. There was no difference in the ratio of the CD-4 CD-8 positive lymphocytes among the three groups. To evaluate whether the differences could be explained by the degree of pulmonary tubercular involvement, we classified the patients into three groups according to the extent and type of X-ray findings. Seven out of eight tuberculin negative patients were classified as grade III, whereas in the tuberculin positive group only seven out of 20 fell in this category. There was no significant correlation between the radiological grade of the patients and the examined in vitro parameters unless the tuberculin reactivity of each patients was also considered. Tuberculin anergy may reflect an inappropriate immune response to the intracellular pathogen. The high percentage of IL-4 and IL-10 positive lymphocytes together with a low percentage of IL-12 positive lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of anergic patients suggests a Th2 biased immune response during the early course of the disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Gamma/delta T lymphocytes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

BACKGROUND: Data on the percentage of gamma/delta T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of patients infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis are few and contradictory. The percentage of gamma/delta T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of tuberculin positive and tuberculin negative patients with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and healthy controls was compared. METHODS: Thirty six patients infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and 11 healthy controls were studied. Lymphocytes were separated, cytocentrifuged onto glass microscope slides, and reacted with anti-gamma/delta monoclonal antibody. The percentage of gamma/delta positive cells was determined by microscopic counting of 300 lymphocytes. RESULTS: No difference was found in the percentage of gamma/delta T lymphocytes between patients and controls. However, when the patients were divided into two groups according to reactivity or non-reactivity in the Mantoux skin reaction a higher percentage of gamma/delta T lymphocytes was found in the peripheral blood of patients with tuberculin anergy than in tuberculin positive patients or controls. CONCLUSIONS: Higher gamma/delta T cell counts are found in tuberculin negative patients with tuberculosis than in tuberculin positive patients or tuberculin positive controls. The high gamma/delta T cell counts in tuberculin anergic patients may reflect a shift in the immune response in a Th2 direction characterised by increased antibody production and decreased cell mediated responses.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Calcifying liver metastases in a case of primary lung cancer.

A 50-year-old man presented with primary lung cancer with bone lesions and calcifying liver nodi. Two months after stopping chemotherapy, he died. Autopsy revealed multiple organ metastases. Histologically, the calcified nodi in the liver proved to be affected by tumor metastasis.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1996

[Angiocentric T-cell lymphoma of the lung].

Angiocentric T-cell lymphoma of the lung. The case history of a patient with primary angiocentric T-cell lymphoma of the lung having an unusually long survival period (> 10 years) is presented. Attention is paid to the possibilities of differential diagnosis that should be taken into account in the analysis of certain lymphocytic infiltrates of the lung. In accordance with relevant data of the literature, this case shows that pleiomorphic small cell T-lymphomas may have a protracted course, and the disease free periods repeatedly achieved in this patient by irradiation and chemotherapy are thought to be noticeable. Authors refer to some recent findings which may give new insights in the pathobiology of extranodal T-cell lymphomas, and result in recognition of new disease entities.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMed1993

Expression of an adhesion molecule and homing in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: I. Application of the HEV-binding assay to a clinical series.

High endothelial venule (HEV)-binding of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 43 patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) was investigated with a HEV-binding in vitro assay. Immunophenotyping of HEV-adherent PBMCs proved that most of them belonged to the B-cell proliferation. B-CLL cells stringently expressed CD44 molecules (Hermes-1, -3 and H90). The patients were subgrouped according to Binet's classification, as well as according to the organ manifestations, i.e. patients with B-cell monoclonal lymphocytosis of undetermined significance (B-MLUS) and patients with lymphocytosis (LY), lymph node enlargement (LN) and splenomegaly (SM). The HEV-binding activity of the cells was the highest in Binet stage A patients and in patients with B-MLUS (p < 0.05 in B-MLUS versus B-CLL LY, LN, SM). Based on these findings it is suggested that B-CLL patients show not only a clinical and immunophenotypical heterogeneity, but a diverse function of adhesion molecules.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Prognostic role of immunoglobulin levels in chronic B cell lymphoid leukemia].

The authors analyse the prognostic role of the immunoglobulins detected in the sera of 83 patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. They have found, that the decreased level of IgG, IgA and IgM itself has no significant prognostic role. In those cases, where the IgA level was the lowest at the recognition of the disease, the expected life-span was significantly shorter. As far as the immunoglobulin level and the clinical stage did not show any significant correspondence, the relative reduction of the IgA level at the recognition of the disease can be considered as a poor prognostic sign.

Aged↗